India 2nd in neonatal deaths, stillbirths, maternal deaths

India may be struggling to make it to the top in many fields, but has been ranked first in the world in neonatal deaths and stillbirths, and second in the number of maternal deaths.TNN | May 16, 2016, 14:28 IST

Bengaluru: India may be struggling to make it to the top in many fields, but has been ranked first in the world in neonatal deaths and stillbirths, and second in the number of maternal deaths. The top rank here means the country has done worse than the others.

According to The Lancet's 2016 report, with nearly 7 lakh neonatal deaths and 6 lakh stillborn babies reported in the country in 2015, India is worse than Asian countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, and African countries like Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Congo and Niger in the top 10 countries, which account for 62% and 65% of all neonatal deaths and stillborn babies in the world.

The only other country which figures among the 10 largest economies of the world but also appears in this list is China. Globally, there were 2.7 million neonatal deaths and 2.6 million stillbirths. As far as maternal deaths go, India is only behind Nigeria, while all other aforementioned countries have fared better. India, ranked second, reported 45,000 such deaths out of nearly 3,00,000 globally. The top 10 countries accounted for 58% of global maternal deaths.

While statistics point to continuing apathy in healthcare, experts here attribute it to a lack of human resource and infrastructure.

"We need to strengthen the system if we are going to move to institutional deliveries. More people need to be trained and made available," Dr Asha Benakappa, director, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health.

Another senior doctor said: "When I joined the profession, I saw people being trained to perform deliveries at home. Today, the concept of the traditional midwife is vanishing and while we say we want more institutional deliveries, it is important to equip institutions."

According to The Lancet, poor indicators cannot be attributed to India's population alone."Population is an important factor, but the rankings of countries with the most stillbirths also shift with changes in mortality risk and fertility," the report says. China, which has a higher population than India, fared better than India in all three categories. "For example, Brazil no longer ranks in the 10 countries with highest neonatal deaths and stillbirths, this progress has been achieved through dramatic falls in fertility and risk of stillbirth," the report says.

The report said the number of stillbirths has reduced more slowly than maternal mortality or mortality in children younger than five years, which were explicitly targeted in the Millennium Development Goals.

The Every Newborn Action Plan has the target of 12 or fewer stillbirths per 1,000 births in every country by 2030, which still appears a far dream. Most (98%) stillbirths are in low-income and middle-income countries.

"The world's neonatal deaths have increased in prominence in national and global agendas, mainly because these deaths account for 45% of the deaths of children under 5 years worldwide. Attention was not driven by millions of newborn deaths, but by recognition that neonatal mortality," the report adds.